


The Inbetween

by toodeepinthatfanzone



Series: Up and Down [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, Future AU, Identity Reveal, hooked up universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-30 07:57:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15747546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toodeepinthatfanzone/pseuds/toodeepinthatfanzone
Summary: Drabbles series.Everything that happened between Hooked Up and Settle Down.*tags to be added as I go





	The Inbetween

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> This is the first drabble for the Hooked Up universe! If you have any suggestions for future scenarios, feel free to leave them in the comments.
> 
> I wanted to use this chapter as an announcement. Settle Down is currently on hiatus until I figured out how to move the plot forward and because I will be leaving my home county next week for a longer amount of time. I might still be able to write but I am not sure how much. Therefore, Settle Down is only visible for registered users for now since I don't want to have an unfinished story on my profile.
> 
> Sorry for any typos, this chapter is only partly edited.
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading and enjoying Hooked Up! It really means a lot!
> 
> Emma's age: 6
> 
> Summary: Marinette and Adrien find out about Hawk Moth's identity. Maybe they should ask about his origin story.

No one understood how Gabriel Agreste of all people was able to win his granddaughter’s heart but somehow he did. Tom and Sabine did everything to get Emma to love them as much as she loved Gabriel. They had nice sleepovers with her and definitely were the type of grandparents to allow their grandkid to eat sweets before bed.

But still, whenever Marinette and Adrien asked Emma where she rather wanted to spend the night she either choose aunty Alya or grandpa Gabriel. Not that they complained. Especially Adrien was happy about that fact.

They were still a young couple, barely turned twenty four and close to finishing university, the only complication was that they had a six-year-old child. Every free night they got turned into a short notice date.

“Tired?” Adrien asked as he watched Marinette lazily move her pointer finger along the rim of her wine glas.

“Tipsy.” she corrected and hiccuped. An embarrassed blush spread across her cheeks. “All our friends are partying and we are slowly getting drunk in a fancy restaurant, when did we get so boring?”

Adrien chuckled and took a spoon of his dessert. “I guess that is the curse of being a parent. But guess what?”

“What?"

“Only four more weeks and Emma will be in school. Sabine said that she’ll probably become a bit calmer then. Plus she is very interested in learning so we might get some more quiet evenings.” The blonde smiled at his girlfriend who looked not really impressed.

She raised her glass to her lips. “You do know our Emelia, right?” Marinette emptied the drink in one go. In her defense, she tried her best in being a good mother but sometimes she needed an escape.

“Okay, try to forget our child for the night.” ordered Adrien while a waitress cleaned their table, “She is with my father, we don’t have to worry about a thing and I really had something special planned for us later so… just… relax.”

“Admit it, Chaton, your ‘special’ thing means renting a one star rated movie on Netflix and getting more alcohol so that everything ends in with sloppy makeouts and couch-se-” Marinette was interrupted by the ringing sound of her phone and she lifted a finger. “Hold on.”

Adrien blushed lightly as he called for the bill, hoping nobody heard his light drunk partner. He pulled out his card and gave it to the waitress, telling her to add a tip and focused back on Marinette. She was frowning, obviously trying to drown out the noises around her. Her expression became darker and darker with every second passing.

As soon as Marinette ended the call, she packed her things and grabbed her jacket. “Gabe made Emma cry. Nathalie called, she doesn’t know what’s wrong since neither Emma nor Gabriel talk so she told us to come.”

With a sigh, Adrien exed his own glass, not drunk enough for whatever was about to happen.

  


* * *

  


“Thank you for coming so fast,” Nathalie said and nodded as a greeting. The tall woman stepped aside to let Marinette and Adrien in. They both looked tired and Marinette suppressed a yawn before immediately freezing by the sound of whimpering.

Emma sat on the far right of the big entrance stairs, cuddled into a blanket and she visibly rocked back and forth.

Marinette pinched the bridge of her nose, then crossed the hall to sit next to her daughter. “Emmy, dear....” she whispered softly and brought her hand up to gently rub Emma’s back. The kid looked up in surprise but jumped up to hug her mother only seconds later. “Hey, why are you crying, kitten.”

“I just wanted to play with grandpa but he- he didn’t want to and then- then he told me to stop being annoying. Am I annoying, Maman?” Emma was sobbing like crazy and Marinette patted the girl while shooting a dangerous look at her boyfriend.

Adrien shook his head to clear his thoughts. “That’s it. Nathalie, where is my father?”

“In his office, why?”

“I need to have a chat with him.” The blonde walked passed his crying child with a determinate look. It was only a matter of time until Gabriel would show an old pattern in his behavior towards Emma and it seemed like it was exactly this moment.

With gritted teeth, Adrien opened the door to his father’s office, not even caring to knock. “You care to explain what happened to my child?”

Gabriel didn’t move from where he sat behind the desk, looking down at a picture frame. He didn’t show any reaction except for a long intake of breath. “Adrien…”

“No… just… don’t.” Adrien interrupted and held his hands in the air, “Listen, Emma loves you. She loves you so much and no one can understand why because you are… you are you! You are usually cold and distant and you know, that is fine since we are all used to it.  Heck, I can’t even remember you ever taking your time for me when I was younger. But Emma, she is just a child. She doesn’t understand things the way we do and you have the chance to make her remember you as the great grandfather she deserves. Please don’t destroy her childhood like you did mine.”

It was quiet in the big room for several moments, neither of the men saying a word. Adrien could feel his anger fading slowly and it was replaced by cold disappointment. He cleared his throat. “Do you know how much Tom and Sabine try to make Emma love them the way loves you? They spoil her rotten with sweets and small little gifts. They are… they are planning to take her on vacation in autumn, maybe somewhere near the ocean but you never even considered something like that. Do you really think she is annoying?”

Gabriel sighed and finally looked at his son who had folded his arms over his chest, looking quite helpless in the big room. The older men stood. “I… I once made a decision, Adrien. A decision that could have gone in two different ways and I choose for her best.”

“What are you talking about?” Adrien asked. There was a something in the back of his head telling him that this would lead to a completely new conversation.

“When your mother left,” Gabriel positioned himself in front of the big golden portrait of his wife, “It broke me and made me desperate. I was empty.”

“And I was the same,” Adrien called, pointing at his chest. “I was hurting too, you know, but you didn’t care because work was more important!”

“I did care about you, Adrien! I cared so much about you that I gave up the only way to bring your mother back. I did it because I knew you would never be as happy as now with your own child.”

The younger of the both men stomped his feet in frustration. “I don’t know what you are talking about! I just want an explanation for my daughter crying on the bottom of the stairs.”

For a second, Gabriel locked eyes with Adrien, then he rolled his shoulders. “I lost my temper and I apologize for that. I will make sure to personally talk to Emelia but right now, I need you to understand me. I do care about her and you. She is special, I believe we both know that.” There was a silent second, the meaning of this sentence hanging loosely in the air between them. “Emma was the reason I gave up on your mother and tried to let the past be… the past.”

“Means what?”

Gabriel turned to walk closer to his son, coming to stand just a few steps away from him. He was visibly nervous but tried to suppress his emotions as much as possible. “I gave up my miraculous.”

Adrien stared at his father in silent shock. His mind went blank, then suddenly question after question started to from. He blinked several times. “Mi-miraculous? You had a miraculous?”

“And I know about yours too.” Gabriel lifted a hand to touch Adrien’s. obviously wanting to draw the attention to the silver ring but the blonde turned his body so that his right arm was out of reach.

“How do you… why….?”

“It was Emma who made me see what I did to my own son for most of his teenage years. You are strong, Adrien, you always were and maybe that’s is the reason you were chosen to carry this ring and use it for the people and not your selfish reasons. Not like me.” said Gabriel in a low voice.

Adrien was frozen and had trouble to work through this information. His eyes flickered from his father back to the hidden safe behind the portrait, remembering the book he found. “Hawk… you were _Hawk Moth_!?” he spat.

“I am sorry, Adrien-”

“You manipulated me for… for years!? Was this some kind of game!? Telling me that we should trust each other to go behind my back and terrorising Paris for some stupid jewels!?” Adrien stepped back, tears starting the form in his eyes. “It was _you_!?”

The older man pinched the bridge of his nose. “I know you are having a hard time processing this right now, but listen to me, thanks to your child-”

Turning to the exit even further, Adrien stopped his motion for a second and his eyes narrowed. “You were manipulating her too, right? She trusted you so much! How dare you… oh my…” A strained laugh escaped his lips. “I can’t stand seeing you right now.”

“Adrien, please....”

But Adrien was already out of the office and brushed the angry tears from his eyes. His steps were heavy as he stomped down the marble stairs and walked straight past Marinette, standing with Emma who had dozed of into sleep in her arms in the big entrance hall. “Let’s go.”

He knew Mari was confused as she said goodbye to Nathalie and followed him outside. They didn’t speak much.

  


* * *

  


“Why is everyone mad at me?” Emma asked as Marinette tucked her into her bed and the young mother frowned, slowing her motions. 

“Why do think everyone is mad at you, kitten?” she asked and sat on the floor to be on the same eye level as her child, gently brushing through her hair to calm her down.

Emma rubbed her tired and red eyes. “First grandpa says I’m annoying and then Papa doesn’t want to bring me to bed.” A small sob escaped the little girl and Marinette immediately moved forward to hug her.

“That is not true. Papa just had a bad day and needs to calm down, he would have loved to bring you to bed otherwise. And your grandpa… he didn’t think you are annoying.” explained Mari softly, trying everything to stop the six-year-old from crying.

“But why… why do adults always say things they don’t mean?” Emma held strongly her mother’s nightshirt between her hands as she sobbed.

“Oh, Emelia…” Marinette sighed and pressed her cheek against her child’s head, “That’s what adults do sometimes. They have their reason to say things they don’t mean like maybe they want to hide their emotions. Maybe they don’t want to be weak in front of others. You might understand one day. Your Papa and I, we love you so much but today he rather wants to be alone to deal with his problems than having to face you with a bad mood. You don’t want to see Papa in a bad mood, do you?”

“No…” she answered and shook her head. Marinette nodded without another word and she continued to stroke Emma’s hair for some more minutes until she was completely sure that the kid was asleep. She then wrapped her up into her bed again and turned the lights off, heading towards the bedroom.

“Care to explain what happened.” Marinette finally asked as she slumped into bed, trying not to yawn. Adrien had already turned the light on his bedside table off, laying with his back towards her. He didn’t move even one bit.  “Fine, I can’t force you to talk but I know it’s not good if you try to hide your feelings. It would have been at least nice if you had said good night to your daughter instead of grumpily ignoring us.”

She rolled her eyes and pulled the blanket up, turning her own light off. They lay like that for some seconds before she could feel Adrien shift his position. “I did say good night to Emma.”

“Yeah but it was like super sharp and forced and I literally had to explain to her that you didn’t mean it in a bad way.” she complained a bit annoyed.

“Sorry.” Adrien mumbled.

Marinette sighed and turned around to face her boyfriend’s back. “You know you can talk with me about everything. Chat once told me that I could solve so many problems if I just talk.”

The blonde shook his head. “Maybe tomorrow. I have to think about some things before I can openly talk about it. The only thing that you need to know is that we probably shouldn’t let Emma see my father again any time soon. He doesn’t deserve it.”

With that, the conversation was over and Marinette frowned for a second, then made herself comfortable. She could feel Adrien move from time to time, clearly having trouble to fall asleep and she turned around to wrap her arms around his middle in silent support.

“I wish the evening would have progressed differently.” Mari whispered in her boyfriend’s neck and he snorted.

“There will be a lot more opportunities for shitty couch-sex.”

She kicked her knee in his butt and the boy finally giggled quietly, relaxing his posture.  It didn’t take them long to drive into unconsciousness afterwards.

  


* * *

  


She awoke by the familiar sound of Monsieur Paul’s daily delivery truck, its brakes clearly audible up to the second floor where they lived. People greeted each other and a mysterious neighbour they haven’t met yet closed his door to make his way to work. It was a typical Saturday morning.

“10” whispered Adrien as the truck honked outside to alert the shop owner. Marinette groaned, wrapping the blankets tighter around her.

A nearby door opened. “7...6…” Naked feet hit the floorboards of their hallway, footsteps loud and clear coming closer. This time, Mari gently hit her boyfriend as he refused to stop his countdown.

“3...2…” - the door handle moved - “1.”

“Maman! Papa! Wake up!” Before either of the young parents were able to move, a small body jumped on the bed and cuddled itself in between them. Emma beamed with excitement as Marinette yawned and turned to lock eyes with her daughter. The little one smiled with her front upper teeth missing.

“Spots, “ Adrien said in a warning tone, “What did we say about jumping into our bed?” Still grinning brightly, Emma crawled on top of her father and pushed his hair away from his forehead.

“What are we going to do today?”

“Ask your mother.” - “Ask your father.” the adults said in unison. They caught their eyes and Emma looked back and forth between her parents for some seconds.

Then she giggled. “What are we going to do today?” Adrien lifted his hand to brush through Emma’s bangs. He sometimes just liked to to look at his kid, making sure that he missed nothing about her. “Papa-ah.”

“We are going to stay right here in bed if you are going to whine.” he joked and tapped her nose. Marinette loved their antics and she chuckled as Emma crossed her eyes in order to follow her father’s finger. Those were the best moments Mari could imagine, just her man, her child and herself in the warmth of their own little world. Maybe one day they could be joined by another little bundle of joy but that was written in the stars for now.

After some more minutes, they decided to finally get up and eat breakfast. Marinette hummed while she prepared coffee and Adrien set the table.

“You wanna go out with aunty Alya today to look for school bags?” he asked after some minutes. Surprised Marinette looked up but didn’t comment on that question.

“Can I get a purple one?” questioned Emma then, having sneaked a spoon of chocolate cream between her lips already.

Her father shrugged. “Sure, whatever you want, kitten.” Shooting a quick message on his phone off, he bumped his hips into his girlfriend, dropping the volume of his voice. “Need to talk to you. Cat and bug business related.”

“Bad enough for Emma to be distracted the whole day?” she joked but the glance Adrien shot her was serious. His eyes softened and he lifted his hand to gently caress Marinette’s arms, signaling her that she shouldn’t worry for now.

The morning continued as usual. The small family got ready for their day and then they heated out to meet with Alya. With a kiss on both of her parent’s cheeks, Emma said goodbye and walked off with her aunty.

“So…” Marinette said while the couple looked for a safe place to transform, “Cat and bug business you said?” Slowly, she opened her purse to check on Tikki and the kwami smiled up at her holder.

They were often separated from each other with Hawk Moth gone and Emma not being allowed near the miraculous magic. Plagg and Tikki stayed close but also far enough away from the family to not cause any problems, sometimes they even visited master Fu.

“Cat and bug business indeed.” Adrien sighed, then grabbed Marinette’s upper arm and dragged her into an ally. Calling for their transformations, Adrien and Marinette became Ladybug and Chat and then made their way up to the rooftops.

It didn’t matter how long they had already been superheroes of Paris, the excitement of being able to move freely never faded. Chat lead the way across the city. From where Alya lived to Notre Dam, settling down on top of the church. Marinette smiled as she saw her parent’s bakery across the Seine and missed the sight of her old balcony, being almost completely blank now since she moved out. But her partner was more focused on his own house just some streets further down the river.

Ladybug dropped down on the floor. “Want to finally tell me what is up or are you going to let it eat you up for the rest of… forever?”

The black cat huffed and then came to sit across from her, his nails dragging over the roof. “I know who Hawk Moth is… _was_...is? I don’t know.”

“Who Hawk Moth was?” she asked and furrowed her brows, “How did you find out in the first place?”

“He told me. Personally.”

“What?” Ladybug blinked confused and she saw her partner beginning to fold and unfold his hands because of his nerves. “When did he tell you personally?”

Chat took a deep breath. “Last night. When we had to pick up Emma from my father’s because she cried… he.,.. he is Hawk Moth. Mari, my father is Hawk Moth.” There was a long silence between the couple as they progressed the information.

Marinette pressed her lips together, then made a popping sound with them. “Well... “ she said slowly, “That explains a lot.”

Humming, Chat agreed. “Explains why he had the miraculous book and why it was so easy for Hawk Moth to give us his miraculous. He just had to walk into my flat and hide it underneath some clothes.” Almost like in a trance state, the black cat holder tapped his fingers against his lips.

“Adrien?” The blonde snapped out of it, meeting his girlfriend’s eyes. “Do you know why your father did what he did?”

The boy blushed sheepishly. “I might have stormed off before asking that. He was talking about my mother and dragged Emma into this too and I just couldn’t take it for much longer.”

Ladybug smiled to comfort her partner and leaned forward to hug him. “You can’t avoid him forever.”

“I can try.” Chat sighed but his tone was low and he sounded defeated. “I just don’t want him anywhere near Emma anymore.”

Moving out of the hug, Marinette took Adrien’s hands in hers and squeezed them. “We are still invited to his birthday party tomorrow and since you’re his son…”

“...I have to be there. I know.”

“It’ll be fine, I promise. We will get the chance to ask him about his intentions he had as Hawk Moth and then move from there on, alright?” she asked and kissed his cheek gently. Her partner nodded and they spend the rest of the day out, until picking up their child in the late evening.

   


* * *

 

“Manners, Emelia!” Marinette warned as she opened the car door for her daughter, the girl giggling.

“Yes, Maman!”

“And no talking to strangers.” her father reminded the kid. She nodded and started to jump around her parents legs. Adrien sighed while looking up at the mansion. Everything in himself was against entering it.

The last car door fell close as Marinette secured her grip around a small basket with presents.

“I’ve been doing the math.” she said, making Adrien raise his eyebrows. “You are twenty-four. Your father is turning fifty-five. They had you with twenty-one which is basically pretty young.”

“Still three years later than we had Emma.” he muttered and caught said child spinning around a lampost. “Spots, come one we are going inside!”

Emma happily walked over to them and linked her father’s hand with her own. “I wanna sing Happy Birthday to grandpa!”

He squeezed her hand as he looked down at his happy kid. “Technically, your grandpa’s birthday was already some days ago.” he remarked but Emma just shrugged.

“I still want to sing for him.”

With a silent sigh Adrien pushed the door open for his family, Marinette thanked him quickly as Nathalie already greeted them and took the present out of the young mother’s hands.

The mansion was filled with people, the entrance area and dining room having been turned into a comfortable space for designers, journalists and friends of Gabriel Agreste. The crowd was thick and before they could even realise it, Adrien was in an awkward conversation with one of his old model colleagues. He didn’t notice Emma slipping away, neither did Marinette while she was talking to a famous designer.

Without minding her parents, Emma managed to sneak in between legs towards the stairs and she giggled while moving upwards to get a better look over the room. She wanted to find her grandfather to sing him Happy Birthday. Then a movement caught her eyes and she stopped on the steps.

A tall man wandered along the mostly empty second floor of the building. He was clearly not supposed to be there and Emma frowned at the stranger. She tried to be as silent as possible as she followed him upstairs, now seeing him clutching a phone in his hands. He took photos of the room and opened doors, becoming more nervous with every passing second.

Emma was out for an adventure as she sneaked after him, watching the man as he opened the door to her grandfather’s office and she followed him right inside.

“Come on, come on Jeremy. Somewhere here needs to be a clue.” the guy, apparently called Jeremy whispered to himself. He looked through papers on the big desk, opened drawers and almost knocked a vase over, as he suddenly froze. With shaking hands, the man took a picture frame from the desk and looked down at it.

His eyes suddenly shot up and met Emma’s. They were blue, really light blue and contrasted against his messy long black hair. The way he smiled and his muscled twichted from time to time made the young girl afraid.

“You must me Emelia. I heard a lot about you.” Jeremy said and kneeled down in front of the younger girl, cornering her. “You mind asking me some things about your grandfather?”

She folded her hands together and pouted. “I am not allowed to talk to strangers,” she said and the man lost his smile for a moment, his hand had already come up to touch the girl, as suddenly footsteps could be heard.

“Emelia, come here.” Marinette said in a stern voice, her gaze intensely fixed on the strange man. Without giving the situation a second thought, Emma sprinted over to hide behind her mother’s legs and Mari lay a hand protectively around her head. “Who are you?”

Jeremy shook his shoulders, then rolled them back to stand fully in front of Marinette, probably to intimidate her but the woman was rather unfazed. “Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng, I assume.”

“I don’t want to repeat myself but who are you?”

“Jeremy Trahison. Reporter for Fashion Today.” Gabriel’s voice appeared from a second entrance to the office at the same time Adrien arrived behind his girlfriend. “He would do everything for a scoop. From telling lies to breaking into personal spaces. He is not a new face to me.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes in clear annoyance. “You are having an event here. I am hardly interrupting your personal spaces when you didn’t forbid your guests to go up here.”

“You were not on the guest list, Monsieur, and I will make sure that you will be kindly shown the door.” stepping further into the room, Gabriel’s cold gaze never left the intruders’. “You have no business being here or talking to my family. Whatever story you are after, they have nothing to do with it.”

Adrien lay a hand on Marinette’s shoulder, showing her that it would be better if they left now, but the woman didn’t move one step. Emma wrapped her small arms around her mother's legs.

“People are curious about your next line, Monsieur Agreste and I made it my job to get the big details.”

There was silence in the room for a few seconds, then Adrien shook his head in a bewildered manner. “What the… that is no reason for you to break into my father’s office! I bet he would have done an interview with you if you would have just asked.”

The man huffed but Gabriel had already called for a security guard in the meantime. He appeared seconds later and took Jeremy’s arm in a tight grip. Marinette protectively positioned herself in front of Emma, not letting the weird guy get another glimpse of her and she knew that Adrien would have shown Monsieur Trahison his fangs during a hiss as Chat.

As soon as the men were out of the room, Emma slipped out of her hiding spot and ran over to Gabriel, taking his hand in hers as she smiled brightly with her missing teeth. “Happy Birthday, grandpa!”

Gabriel grinned awkwardly as he crouched down on the floor. “Thank you, little darling.”

“I drew you a picture with us all on it! But it’s with the other presents and I think Maman gave them to Nathalie… but I still hope you will like it! I even wrote down everyone's names!”

“She really went all out.” Marinette said and lay a hand encouragingly on her daughter’s shoulder. “But uh… Emmy, would you maybe go downstairs again and look for Nathalie? Maybe she can help you find your drawing while we talk to grandpa for a while?”

Emma thought for a second but then nodded and almost shot out of the room as fast as possible. Adrien looked after her with a worried expression and Gabriel lifted himself up again. The three of them stood helplessly in the big room, neither wanting to approach the topic they all knew needed to be approached.

Marinette cleared her throat. “So… I heard you uh… were Hawk Moth.”

Snorting, Adrien rolled his eyes. “You ‘heard’, seriously, Marinette.” he mumbled and it was only really audible for the woman who narrowed her eyes.

“I see, Adrien already told you about it.” said Gabriel and nodded to himself, walking around his office desk and taking the picture frame Jeremy had looked at. He placed it on its old spot. “Sit down.”

Looking a bit unsure, the young adults settled down in the big black chairs and waited for someone to actually speak up. Adrien played with his ring and Marinette pulled on her jeans as seconds turned to a whole minute without any of them having said a word yet.

“You probably ask yourselves why I decided to do what I did.” Gabriel started and folded his hands, laying them on the desk.

Nodding, Marinette hummed in agreement. “Yes, that would actually be interesting.”

Adrien couldn’t look at his father, but the tall man rolled his shoulders back. “I met my wife in university. We had business classes together and often helped each other with homework. When we moved together she showed me a book full of magical stories her parents had once brought home from a vacation in China. She was truly obsessed with mythology and magic but I never thought much of it. It was her hobby and I respected that.” explained Gabriel and the young adults shot glances to each other, quite unsure about how this story would progress.

“When Adrien was born, she stopped talking about her obsession, at least I thought so since she only made up bedtime stories for our son about magical creatures. But then we went on a business trip to Tibet and for some reason, Adele found out about a small shop which sells all kind of mystical items. From ‘cursed objects’ to potions. It was where we bought the miraculous book and the two miraculous jewels.”

Marinette raised her eyebrows in surprise. “You just bought them? Just like that?”

Gabriel nodded. “We did. I didn’t really care about the objects because magic did not exit for me but Adele studied the book and activated the peacock miraculous. She was so excited and kept telling me little details about the whole thing here and there, showed me her kwami too. I had to watch how my wife slowly became another person with every day passing, the magic changing her so when she disappeared I couldn’t stop blaming the whole thing on the magic.” he explained in a calm town. “I took a look at the book myself and discovered the power of the different miraculous stones. The rest is history.”

Slowly, Adrien blinked and then he brushed his hair back while letting out a long breath. That was definitely not what he expected but to be honest, he didn’t really expect anything at all.

“Okay, but how did you find out about us? And why did you stop being Hawk Moth?” asked Marinette while gently taking her boyfriend’s hand in her own, trying to give him comfort.

The older man sighed. “Emma was the reason I found out. She… has some _special_ abilities to her as you might know. It was really just putting one and one together.”

“What kind of special abilities?” Adrien asked but was interrupted by the sound of the door opening and then there was a child sprinting over to them.

“Here is my picture, grandpa!” Emma said and held up her small masterpiece. Gabriel took it and blinked down at the paper. “Do you like it? I drew this in kindergarten.” She was almost completely laying on the table now and Adrien gently grabbed her waist so that Emma wouldn’t fall over.

“It looks beautiful, darling. I will frame it and put it right here, on my desk.”

“Yes!” the small girl beamed with excitement.

Marinette and Adrien shared a glance, suspecting that Gabriel might know more than they were able to ask.


End file.
